Riverside 'prosecutor of year' had San Diego DUI

The newly minted 2015 Prosecutor of the Year in Riverside County was honored even though he had a recent drunk driving conviction in San Diego County and an altercation with San Diego police that made the news in 2006.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office gives the honor to employees who demonstrate, among other positive qualities, “extraordinary responsibility … and public demeanor,” according to a news release.

One of two recipients for 2015 was Daniel Enrique DeLimon, 38, a veteran prosecutor who has handled several high-profile murder cases in recent years.

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In 2013, DeLimon pleaded guilty in San Diego court to one misdemeanor count of driving with a blood alcohol content over 0.08, according to court records. The California Highway Patrol pulled him over aty 1:28 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2013, on State Route 78 at Rancho Santa Fe Road in San Marcos. His blood alcohol was measured at 0.12.

DeLimon was also charged with one count of misdemeanor driving while under the influence of alcohol, and San Diego County prosecutors agreed to dismiss that charge in exchange for his guilty plea, according to court records.

DeLimon did not respond to requests for comment.

The Riverside County District Attorney at the time sidelined DeLimon from trial work until his case was resolved and “administrative matters” had concluded, said John Hall, a spokesman for the office.

DeLimon’s “early acceptance of responsibility” and guilty plea in 2013 helped him get back to trying cases, and his colleagues have recognized his work as top-quality, Hall said.

“DeLimon was nominated for recognition by his peers, supervisors and members of the law enforcement community for the body of his work in 2013, 2014 and, again, in 2015,” Hall wrote in response to U-T Watchdog’s questions. “DeLimon's supervisors recognized that he would have been a viable (and likely) candidate for countywide prosecutor of the year in 2013, but for his misdemeanor case.”

The drunken-driving arrest wasn’t the first time DeLimon found himself handcuffed in San Diego County.

DeLimon was involved in an altercation with police outside a bar in downtown San Diego in 2006, according to an April 28 article that year in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

According to the article, police were called to The Red Circle nightclub about 2:20 a.m. on April 8. Police said a man, later identified as DeLimon’s cousin, had gone into the club after it closed and head-butted a bouncer who tried to detain him.

Upon arrival at the club, a police officer saw the suspect struggling with a bouncer, who was trying to bring the man out through the front door, according to the article. DeLimon stood in the officer’s way and refused to move, despite the officer’s repeated demands, the article says. The officer grabbed DeLimon’s arm and pushed him aside.

Officers were handcuffing DeLimon when another Riverside County deputy district attorney, Parwana Anwar, moved toward them and started shouting that they had no right to handcuff her friend. She brandished her badge in the officer’s face, according to the news report.

Police arrested and jailed Anwar, the article said.

A spokeswoman for the Riverside District Attorney’s Office said both prosecutors were placed on paid administrative leave, pending a conclusion by the San Diego City Attorney’s Office, according to the article.

A search at San Diego County court Wednesday afternoon did not turn up any documentation of DeLimon being charged with a crime in the incident. The San Diego City Attorney’s Office and police department had no record of an arrest or charges against DeLimon in 2006.

Hall, the spokesman for the Riverside District Attorney’s Office, said the office has “an internal process to determine the appropriate administrative action according to the specific circumstances of each case,” when a prosecutor is detained or convicted of a crime.

Hall declined to provide details of the administrative actions the office took in response to DeLimon’s recent criminal conviction, saying the office doesn’t comment on personnel issues.

Hall did provide details of some of the accomplishments that contributed to the office’s decision to name DeLimon 2015 Prosecutor of the Year:

In 2013 and 2014, DeLimon prosecuted four active-duty Marines who, in 2008, invaded the home of a Marine sergeant and terrorized, robbed, assaulted and executed the sergeant and his wife. DeLimon took three of the defendants to trial in 2013 and the fourth to trial in 2014. Juries returned guilty verdicts for all four defendants and three were sentenced to death. The fourth was sentenced to life without parole.

Also in 2013, DeLimon obtained a guilty verdict in a murder case against a 17-year-old boy who, in 2011, created a fake profile on Facebook and used it to lure a man to a park and kill him.

In 2015, DeLimon prosecuted a murder case against a parolee who beat and stabbed to death a 16-year-old boy who refused to hand over his cell phone when the defendant tried to take it from him. After two months at trial, a jury returned a guilty verdict and sentenced the defendant to death.